Hi guys, sorry for the long wait - homework from university and making Christmas presents kept me busy. I hope you had a nice Christmas and that you will start the New Year happily!
You'll probably be also happy to hear, that finally Fleetourge will start, with this chapter. Now, please enjoy!
9: In need of help
The wooden projectile stopped not even an inch away from Kylie's nose, who didn't blink at being so close to it, or at the gust of wind, that the sudden interruption of its flight caused.
Sonic, who had fought against Shadow's protective grip, in that the seme had pulled him the second he had seen the door leaving its frame, to save her, stopped at once and looked up to see four black tentacles gripping the corners of the door with snake maw-like tips, having apparently caught the heavy object, keeping it above the ground.
Sonic turned his head and followed the blackish strings to Mephiles standing in the door frame, having his arm outstretched. Next to him was another familiar figure, at least more or less...
It was Fleetway, but like he had never before seen him. He was pretty much glowing in yellow and the red swirls in his eyes looked, as if they were about to burn his eyeballs. He was drooling and his jaws pressed so hard on each other, that his gums were bleeding, the blood streaming in thin rivulets out of his mouth and from his chin, most dried, before the first drop could fall.
More black tentacles were pressing his limbs close together, but were smoking more and more and while Sonic watched, they burned away like paper in a fire.
"WHERE IS HE!?," he screamed again, until he was surrounded by the black stuff completely, looking like a strange caterpillar trying to escape its cocoon. Even in that, probably not very thin, layer appeared the first burns. Mephiles frowned at that.
"John...," Kylie called with a voice, that promised lots and lots of trouble, returning the attention to her.
Sonic turned around to see John's head pop out from under the desk. "Er...yeah?," he asked nervously. "Care to explain, why Fleetway is after you so badly?," Kylie asked sternly.
"W-well..." John stood up reluctantly and played with his fingers, nervously. "You told me to keep them separated, so I thought, that putting him in one of those empty storage rooms would calm him down..."
Kylie raised a brow. "You thought, that putting an angry seme of the Lightning Class, the most explosive and unstable class of them all, in a limited space was a good idea?," she asked incredulously.
"W-well, if you formulate it like that...," John stammered, starting to sweat. "What is the next 'ingenious' plan? To poke a hornets' nest? John, you will replace everything Fleetway destroyed.," she ordered after her short, yet effective lecture.
"But I could simply-" The young man interrupted himself, when he caught Kylie's dangerous glare.
"Y-yeah.," he quickly agreed. "You will make sure, that everyone he hurt will get proper medical attention AND you will apologize to them.," she continued.
"Wha-? But HE hurt them!," John protested, pointing to the male, who just got wrapped in more of Mephiles' black stuff, as the first layer had been almost burned away.
"Mobians, who are high on instincts, are like guns with poisonous bullets – deadly in every case. And you pulled the trigger of such a weapon with your careless acting. YOU are responsible and YOU will apologize. And you should PRAY, that everyone forgives you.," Kylie told him coldly.
John bit his lip and nodded, his head hung low in shame. "Also, I want you to visit the next class concerning semes.," Kylie went on.
"W-what!? Why!?," the young man gasped, looking up again. "You clearly lack knowledge of how to handle semes, otherwise you would have known, that running away from enraged semes is the worst thing you could have done."
"Yeah, right. What should I have done? Stay there and let him kill me?," John hissed, in a weak attempt of fighting her.
"Almost. You will learn more in the class. I will ask Mali later, if you let yourself getting registered, so rather don't stall – or I'll organize a special class, just for you about how to treat ukes right – and you know, how much they love it to gossip. See it as punishment for your stupidity."
"And the other two things? Aren't they punishments, too?," he bit out bitterly. "No, they are lessons in how to earn forgiveness."
John looked at her in surprise. "Tell me, when someone still holds a grudge against you after apologizing, I'll think of something.," Kylie smiled.
She knew of course, that John had trouble in the social department, due to his limited contact with others in his childhood, that's why she – mostly subtly – helped him with that, by giving him instructions of how to behave in situations, when he felt lost. Sometimes, Happy or Mali did the same.
"And if it's any consolation, Shadow, Mephiles and Fleetway will join you in the class.," she added
"WHAT!?," said males, even Fleetway, whose head was sticking out of a pillar of black slime, which let him look like a giant candle, exclaimed.
Kylie didn't even flinch. "You heard me. Shadow." She turned to the seething male. "Sonic wanted out of your arms and not for fun. If that door here would have hit and injured, or even killed me and you would have been between my rescue and him as the rescuer, this would have caused a very deep rift between you. Of course, your instincts would bind you together still and someday, he would probably forgive you and mean it, but I wouldn't call that, what you would have between you until then, a relationship anymore."
The dark male swallowed dryly and his arms fell to his side. He felt Sonic's eyes on him, actually several other pairs, too, but he didn't look in any, besides Kylie's. "You need to learn to trust in Sonic, under any circumstances. Of course, the class will not give you this trust, but it will help you understand some things.," Kylie encouraged. The agent nodded slowly.
"Mephiles.," the woman turned to the male, who was just letting the door down, so that it leaned on the desk, forming a ramp. "Although I appreciate your help, it should look different. Trying to restrain a raging seme is as stupid as locking him away." "Are you calling me an idiot twice in one day?," Mephiles hissed.
"You just did.," Kylie shrugged. "I want you to go there to learn, how you can stop semes without endangering everyone else, including Silver."
Mephiles smirked. "Nice try, but Silver is too far away for Fleetway to harm him.," he growled.
Kylie sighed and shook her head. "There YOU are wrong. Semes in a rage can cross a line, that is known as the 'Point of no return'. Once they have crossed this point, they can't return to normal, like a rabid animal, and need to be killed – because they kill everything they see, until they are stopped. Do you want to make a bet, when Fleetway – or another seme you unsuccessfully tried to stop – has reached Silver and takes revenge on him for carrying your scent?," she challenged. Mephiles sneered back. "Fine."
He snapped his fingers and the slime fell off Fleetway, who looked at the woman, seemingly not realizing, that he was free again. "What about me?," he asked her. "Do you have any idea, how many people you hurt on your way here?," Kylie just asked back.
"Er..." Fleetway frowned. "No idea?," he offered. "You will take that class and learn to control your emotions.," Kylie declared, as if it was final. "Whatever.," the male shrugged. Unlike the other two, he was pretty fast convinced.
"Now, where is he? Where's Scourge?" The energy, that had calmed down in the meantime, came back full-force. John seemed kind of relieved, that Fleetway was apparently not after him, as he had feared.
"Ah, yes, I've been meaning to talk about this with you. If you would follow me...," Kylie requested, crossing the room quickly and moving past him, for sure expecting him to follow, but the seme didn't even think for a second about it.
"No way, I want answers n- OW!" Without missing a beat, Kylie's hand had appeared again, grabbed his ear and pulled it to force him to move with her.
She appeared fully in the frame after a few seconds and after pulling Fleetway out of sight. Only his pain-filled whines were audible.
"Mephiles, please join us, John, you start cleaning up your mess, starting with my office. Knuckles, Rouge, feel free to go. Shadow, Sonic, just wait for me, this shouldn't take longer than an hour. If you're very bored, you can just walk around the Shelter, Nicole will find and inform you everywhere.," she smiled, before moving away, pulling a whining Fleetway, who was briefly visible, when she turned around, before being dragged out of sight again, after her.
Mephiles huffed, his tentacles grabbed the door and put it back in place, the hinges 'mysteriously' repaired. He closed it, leaving the four occupants of the room by themselves.
"Sonic, I wanted-" Shadow interrupted himself, when he couldn't find the person he had tried to talk to. He wasn't in the room anymore! "Sonic!" At once, he ran out of the room, almost not opening the door before exiting.
"Should we help him?," Rouge asked Knuckles with a neutral, almost bored voice, looking at the guardian with a side glance.
"No need.," Knuckles shrugged and collected the last figurine in, while John dutifully picked up files next to the desk and put them back on top.
"Trying to find Sonic is a waste of time, when you can't keep up with him. Besides, I don't think, that he can get into a lot of trouble here. Well, not more than usual. I'll just go and ask about the reliefs."
"Hope you don't mind me tagging along.," Rouge grinned and they left through the open door, ignoring John's "Urgh, what's that in the bin!?", behind them.
The second Sonic had heard Scourge's name, he had been determined to hear, what Kylie wanted to tell Fleetway.
So he followed the small group secretly, which wasn't such a hassle, due to his speed and Kylie not going far, just two hallways away, in a – for him – random room.
He high speedily sneaked up to the closed door and carefully opened it. He could see Fleetway and Kylie arguing, but didn't hear a single word, their lips moving soundlessly.
Frowning, he tried to get closer, almost entering the room as he did so, until his nose hit something hard at once, as if there was an invisible glass wall in the door frame.
Before the blue hero had time to understand this, the hard thing turned pitch black and familiar tentacles shot out of the blackness, grabbing him and pulling him closer to it, but it was now a strange, rather soft mass, through that he went easily, too surprised to even try to fight back.
A few minutes earlier:
Kylie knew the Shelter perfectly and had therefore no problem with finding an empty room – that usually was a classroom, but currently unused.
She pushed Fleetway in and only let go of his maltreated ear, when Mephiles had closed the door behind them.
"Mephiles, please build a soundproof wall, okay?," Kylie asked, not leaving Fleetway out of her sight, while the male rubbed the brutally offended ear – mobian ears were very sensitive, Kylie was well aware of that – with a string of curses, that were too soft for her to make them out. The tone just told her, that he probably cursed her to hell currently.
"Sure.," the dark seme shrugged. At once, all background noises disappeared and only deafening silence was left behind.
A black tentacle came out of the dark being's shadow and briefly wrapped around the fingers, that had pulled the light male's ear.
Mephiles was aware, that Kylie had burned them due to the heat the other seme produced with his raw Chaos Energy, he knew, that the woman tended to ignore her pain, when she was determined. He was actually impressed, that she would do this more often than not.
"Just what do you think you're doing!? I just want to know, where Scourge is, what's so wrong with that!?," Fleetway snarled at the woman.
"I want you to keep away from Scour-" "Who are YOU to tell me what to do!?," Fleetway raged, not letting her finish. "Would you listen for-" "NO!"
"Hold on.," Mephiles interrupted their fight and Kylie turned around to see the space surrounded by the door frame pitch black, with Sonic just getting pulled through the strange gooey mass there and landing in the next second ungracefully on the ground.
"Look, what got dragged in. Did nobody tell you, that curiosity killed the cat? Or rather – the hedgehog.," the dark seme smirked and lances, coming out of the mass he had slipped through, pointed at him from all sides, at times resting against his body or poking him lightly, revealing their deadly hard texture.
"Mephiles, don't fool yourself. You can't bring your instincts to kill an Alpha.," Kylie explained, rolling her eyes.
Mephiles frowned at her and then at the hero. "Fantastic. And here I had thought, that my unwillingness to kill him had something to do with Silver liking him.," the male growled, while the lances disintegrated into dust, the mass returning to be the glass wall and the door slamming shut to ward off every other attempt of listening in.
Slowly, as if he wasn't trusting the peace to last, Sonic stood up, dusting himself off. "Is this really true?," he asked Kylie.
"Yes. There are only very rare occasions, during that semes would try to kill an Alpha – and the thrill of killing doesn't count.," she added towards Mephiles, who rolled his eyes himself.
It was almost the whole truth – Mephiles couldn't kill Sonic, because he saw him as his Alpha, just like he did with Kylie. Any other Alpha wasn't safe from him, if he wished to kill him, but he didn't need to know that.
"HEY! I still want an answer here! Stop talking with that blue fur ball already!," Fleetway snarled, actually waving his arms, as if he assumed, that he was too small to be noticed right away.
Seeing Sonic's slight offense at the comment, Kylie chuckled. "Respect doesn't belong to the things mobians provide their Alphas with naturally."
"Hellooo! Talk already, human – with me! How dare you tell me, that I shouldn't see Scourge anymore!?" With each word, Fleetway's energy flared brighter.
Kylie sighed. "Mephiles, could you please exclude yourself from the conversation?," she asked, although ignoring Fleetway further didn't seem a smart thing to do right now.
"What about him?," Mephiles nodded to Sonic, who raised a brow. "He can stay. As an Alpha, nobody, but me, can tell him to leave and I trust him to keep what we talk about a secret."
"And not me?," the seme asked, clearly offended. "Since you and Silver have a mental connection, that you can't handle as easily as your mate – yes."
Mephiles growled. "Careful, most people don't survive insulting me once – thrice a day is a little too much." "Then don't give me a reason.," Kylie shrugged.
The dark seme scowled and turned to march towards the back of the room, where several tables and chairs were stapled. Without hesitating, he jumped up to sit on one of the chair staples, keeping his balance perfectly, before looking away and surrounding himself with the same veil he had used in Kylie's office.
"Now." Although the temperature in the room had increased by the waves the pissed Fleetway gave off, the human woman was in no rush to address him.
"I didn't ask you to stay away from Scourge forever.," Kylie started, which calmed the seme down greatly already, "I just want you to keep a distance to him for a while."
Fleetway frowned. "Why? It's not like I'm doing something, I'm just worried! I mean, have you seen him lately? He's totally thin and have you noticed those bags under his eyes? He's going to stumble over them at some point! And I'm pretty sure, that losing fur and quills in that rate isn't healthy at all!," he raged, getting more and more agitated with each word.
Sonic felt his own distress-levels rise at hearing that. Was Scourge so bad off? He knew, that hedgehogs didn't lose noticeably quills at once, only one or two every few weeks. When they lost more than that, then they were very sick and in some cases even close to death. It wasn't THAT bad, was it?
"I get, that you are worried about him, but chasing him like a hungry wolf does with its prey isn't helping. He's stressed out beyond compare and your actions made everything worse.," Kylie explained.
"What do you mean?," Fleetway frowned. "Do you know, where Scourge is right now?," Kylie asked back. "No?," Fleetway replied, surprised, that she would probably tell him, where he could find him, when she had forbidden him from going to him – what would stop him from going to him?
"He's currently in our Intensive Care Unit. After touring several bars last night and this morning with his friend, a female fox, as far as I'm informed, drinking several liters of all variations of alcohol and consuming less than legal drugs, too, the two had to stumble in the worst district of the city, right in the territory of a gang of aggressive wolf mobians. When they met a few of the gang members there, Scourge had in his drunken state nothing better to do, than to bend over for them and to tell them to, and I quote, 'destroy his hole beyond repair'."
Fleetway paled at once. "Th-they didn't.," he stuttered and almost begged at the same time.
"Of course not. The second the first approached, Scythe had already castrated half of the group. She brought the two then to the nearest hospital to get their stomachs pumped out, since we can't do that here, and returned afterwards with Scourge, a while ago."
Sonic, who was kind of glad, that his own stomach was already empty while hearing that, realized, that the call Kylie had gotten from Scythe earlier had been probably about Scourge and, that Kylie had left the office shortly before her kids had come there, because of Scythe having returned and she had wanted to check up on the green furred uke. It was typical for her to only trust, what she had controlled herself.
The sound of small sobs let the hero return his attention to Fleetway, who was on his knees, his claws had dug through his gloves and were scratching thin lines in the wooden floor, while he balled his hands to fists. Small tears fell to the ground between his knees. "It's my fault, isn't it?," he sobbed. "B-because of what I did to him, two years ago. It's because of me, that he's doing that, I just know it. I know, what it looks like, when people break, we've lost so many to drugs and alcohol. Stumbled on the road fully drunk and- Oh, Chaos...!"
Sonic watched, how Fleetway pretty much talked himself into hysterics. He understood now, what Kylie meant with semes of this class being unpredictable. He switched from rage to devastation in the blink of an eye. He deserved to be so shocked, though – Scourge hadn't stomached, what had happened, just like Fleetway, predicted it, so he apparently tried to find a – temporary – escape in alcohol and dru-
"FLEETWAY!," Kylie screamed at the top of her lungs, making both hedgehogs jump. Both had been too deep in their thoughts to hear Kylie trying to reach the light seme, until she had screamed.
They turned around to see her leaning against the edge of the desk behind her, that looked like a teacher's in school, and having crossed her arms.
"If you would listen for two minutes, I would love to clear some things up. First of all, the only thing you should be sorry for, is chasing him for the last few months relentlessly. THAT caused him to get worse and do stupid things to himself. Not, what happened two years ago."
Fleetway stared at the woman with a dropped jaw. "W-what? B-but..." He was at a loss for words.
"Trust me on this, what happened on the Island didn't have such a great impact on his psyche as you might think. In fact, he already forgave you for that quite a while ago."
Sonic's jaw joined Fleetway's on the ground. "He- WHAT!?," he bristled. Fleetway actually shuffled back a little. He still remembered, how dangerous the blue furred uke could become, when he was angry.
Kylie sighed and turned to him. "Sonic, if you like it, or not – Scourge and Fleetway are like you and Shadow and Silver and Mephiles meant for each other. Even if Fleetway would have attempted to kill him – not saying, that you would!," she quickly added, when Fleetway started to growl, "Even if Fleetway would have treated him more horribly, than he did, Scourge's instincts would have still drawn him towards Fleetway." Sonic got even more upset by that explanation, she could see that clearly.
Kylie sighed once more. "Sonic, it's natural, okay? Nine of ten mating acts in older days would be considered as rape today. Thanks to the instincts, those mates stayed together anyway."
Sonic felt the urge to rip those instincts out of himself. Seemed, as if those things were as horrible, as they were beneficial.
"Nowadays, it's of course different, your minds are far more complicated and I reassure you, that it wasn't because of the instincts, that Scourge forgave Fleetway. The main reason, why he forgave Fleetway, lies in his past."
"What could possibly have happened for him to forgive something like THAT!?," Sonic growled. Forget, maybe suppress, okay, he could imagine that, he did the same with his own rape – but forgive? If his attacker would still live...could he forgive him, even if he begged for it on his knees? He had no idea.
Kylie looked from one male to the other, seemingly deep in thought, and eventually ran a hand through her hair in defeat.
"Alright, I'll tell you.," she started, letting both look up and at her. "When you...attacked Scourge, it hadn't been the first time, that he had been raped – and not the first time, that it had been done by someone he knew, either."
The two hedgehogs stared at her. Fleetway opened his mouth, as if trying to say something, but closed it almost immediately again, at a loss for words.
"Who?," he finally managed to croak after several tries of saying something. "His father.," Kylie replied with a silent voice.
"Scourge's mother died in childbirth and his father blamed him. He often abused him and, when he was drunken enough, confused him with his wife and raped him. That's, why Scourge lived on the streets, since he had been seven."
Fleetway felt like throwing up, while he let the information sink in. He knew, that Scourge had lived on the streets, before joining their gang, but never, how he had landed there. He had simply assumed, before he knew the – obviously invented – truth, that he had fled from one of the bad orphanages, like so many others, or been found in the streets as a really young child and raised by another homeless, as it had been the case with him. But that...that was the worst form of homeless persons. Those, who left their homes, because the streets with their cold, rainy, lonely and hungry nights were better, than what awaited them in their four walls.
All too soon, his shock turned to rage. "Where is this asshole!?," he hissed with a venomous voice.
"If there is something like justice in this world, then he's rotting in the depths of hell. He got hit by a truck five years ago, died three days afterwards. Nicole researched it.," Kylie growled back, obviously as upset, as Fleetway was, that he escaped his punishment this easily – although they both had different opinions on how this punishment should look like.
"Scourge will never forgive his father for what he did, his hatred towards him will never cease. Although there are several parallels between what he and you did to him, he was willing to forgive you – and he did."
"But why? I don't deserve a single shred of his forgiveness. I treated him like shit.," Fleetway sighed and Sonic found himself nodding in agreement.
"Like his father – but you apologized to him and that's the reason, why he forgave you. After all, he had liked you before the Island-mess started, unlike his parent, who he only feared and later despised."
"He...liked me?," Fleetway asked, as if she was talking about something completely unbelievable.
"He still likes you. He only kept away from you on the Island, because he didn't want to give the humans there any hints."
"I don't get it.," Fleetway mumbled, shaking his head. "Well, Scourge wasn't stupid, he could imagine, that showing too much affection towards-"
"No, not that.," Fleetway interrupted. "I can already imagine, that they tried to find the ones the ukes wouldn't fight off and fuck willingly, so they can save some drugs."
Kylie's eyelid twitched. "...Right.," she mumbled, having probably thought about a more sophisticated way of explaining this.
"What I don't get, is, that Scourge tells YOU about his father and that stuff. I know him for ten years now – and Fi even for eleven! Why did he tell you about all this and when I and she asked, he just invented lies about escaping an orphanage?"
Fleetway could actually beat himself up for his stupidity. He should have noticed, that Scourge had lied, his stories had always been a little different, when he had told them, now, that he thought about it. A different name of the place or the persons, the way he sneaked out/away... The only thing staying the same was, how he started to – unsuccessfully – steal from other people to survive at first, before he got the hang of it. Then again, they had usually all been roaring drunk, when he had been convinced to tell his story, so he wouldn't have noticed.
"Because I didn't ask.," Kylie answered, which left both males irritated. "Fleetway, Scourge is an Introverted uke. Asking him directly just results in him lying." Completely confused stares were the only reaction she got.
The woman frowned in thought. "Okay, let's take Sonic and Silver as examples. If I would ask Sonic, how he is, he would always answer me truthfully. Even if he just tells me, that he doesn't want to talk about it, he would answer me honestly. Silver would turn red for being spoken to, but eventually answer me truthfully, too. Introverted ukes, however, always answer the same. Usually, they answer with 'I'm fine'. Even if they are hospitalized, they always answer like they do in normal situations. Not because they are lazy, but because they are closed in themselves. They keep their true selves and feelings hidden behind a metaphorical door, that has thousands of locks. It takes time to open all those locks, to open up themselves – and pressuring them is like trying to break through the door with a ram. And believe me, that is never good. If you want to talk with him, you have to wait for him to take the first step.
He often hid from you in my office – which doesn't give you permission to destroy it on a daily basis, by the way – and just sat in a corner, watching me for hours doing paperwork. I barely talked to him, only when I called Mali to bring me something to drink or a snack and I asked him, if he wanted something, too. Otherwise, we spent hours in silence and sometimes, when he felt like it, he would start to talk, knowing, that I won't ever interrupt him, just listening. That way, he told me a lot of his past and what's going on in his mind."
"What is...on his mind?," Fleetway asked slowly, not sure, if Kylie would answer. Scourge trusted her apparently, so she was less likely to gossip...
"He is pretty close to falling for you.," the woman answered, to their surprise, honestly. "And if you tell, or even hint to Scourge, that you know that from me, you will wish your behind back on the Island, got it?," she added with such a dark tone and glare, that Sonic himself grew slightly scared and nodded vigorously, along with Fleetway.
"Good." As if having flipped a switch, Kylie became friendly again instantly. "The reason, why he is running from you, in more ways than just one, is a problem, that is kind of linked with you." Fleetway cocked his head. "Huh?"
The woman sighed and brushed her hair back, worrying her lip. She was thinking hard about just how she could explain this properly.
"You noticed those collared mobians around here, didn't you?," she started. "You mean those, who always piss themselves seeing me?," Fleetway shrugged.
"...Yeah, those. Didn't you ever wonder, why John got them?" "Not-" "I did, several times already.," Sonic interrupted the less than helpful Fleetway. Didn't he understand, that Kylie was trying her best here to get to the point?
Kylie seemed relieved to have found a way to tell the apparently complicated story, because she answered Sonic immediately. "That wasn't planned, not at all, but when John saw them there, he just couldn't let them die. The reason, why he went to Saha in the first place, however, had been Scourge."
"WHAT!?," both males pretty much screamed at her. "It had been a few months ago already, that Scourge had been kidnapped and brought there to be sold as a slave.," Kylie explained.
"But...what were those people doing outside of Saha?," Sonic asked, trying to process, what happened to Scourge.
"Well, the poor people of Saha all suffer from malnutrition and illnesses of all kinds, which doesn't make them this desirable, so some slave traders send their henchmen outside the kingdom to find new slaves. They are as clever as Perringten had been, they had mostly looked for people, who wouldn't be missed, like homeless, or criminals."
"But why Scourge?," Fleetway growled. "Actually, the people kidnapping him had been after a few homeless children. Scourge witnessed it coincidentally and protected them, which caused him to get captured instead. Since the people sent out to get new slaves needed to fulfill a quote, they took him with them."
"And how did you know, that he was there?," Sonic wondered. "You can thank Emma and Silver for that. The two are a perfect team. Emma gets the predictions or memories and Silver picks out the ones he needs. And since he had always cared for Scourge and you, he immediately knew, that he was in trouble. They informed me and John and he made his way over to Saha to purchase Scourge, as hard as it was."
"Couldn't you inform the police?," Sonic asked, looking over to Fleetway, who apparently planned a certain murder already.
"We couldn't. In Saha, slavery is perfectly legal and there had been no witnesses of Scourge getting kidnapped, besides some random street kids and Silver and Emma indirectly. We could have tried to dig out some records on Scourge being born in one of our cities, but since nobody knew, where he came from – and Scourge is for sure not his real name –, that could have taken weeks. And who knew, what the one buying him would have done to him by then...," Kylie sighed.
"They...they didn't...you know...," Fleetway tried to formulate a proper sentence, but the shock paralyzed his brain. Why wasn't he there for Scourge? Why hadn't he...felt, suspected something? Anything?
Kylie looked at him in thought. "I guess, it's best I show you." "Show...?" Fleetway repeated, not getting, what she meant.
Kylie nodded. "Mephiles." The dark male appeared again, looking livid. "WHAT?," he snarled.
"Did I interrupt something?," Kylie asked with an apologetic smile. "Yes, you did!," was the annoyed answer.
"How about I'll make it up?," Kylie smiled, despite Sonic and Fleetway waiting anxiously next to her.
"I'm listening.," Mephiles replied with a raised brow. "I could 'coincidentally' meet up with Silver and teach him one or two things about dating.," Kylie suggested. Mephiles narrowed his eyes at her. "He told you about our last date, didn't he?" Kylie's mouth twitched. "Maybe. Now, could you please give me the orb?"
"If that's all. And you better fulfill your promise soon." Mephiles snapped his fingers and a small white pearl appeared over his hand, falling on his palm. It was barely larger than a marble. He curled his fingers and tapped the small ball with the tip of his claw, which caused it to enlarge to the size of a football. "Here you go." With a simple move of his arm, he threw the orb over to the woman, who caught it easily, so it probably wasn't very heavy. Before she could thank him, Mephiles was already gone.
"What is that?," Sonic asked, pointing to the ball in her hand. "A copy of John's memory concerning the day he rescued Scourge."
Sonic raised a brow. "When he returned, I needed to know, what happened, but he couldn't exactly form words, so Mephiles took his memories and created a copy, that I could watch like a movie on television...just with all senses. I can show you those memories, too, if you want to, but I have to warn you, it's not pretty."
Fleetway balled his fists and squared his shoulders. "Doesn't matter. I need to see that." Sonic just nodded, not trusting his voice right now. "Alright."
Kylie pressed a small speck of gray on the white orb, that she knew was like a play-button. The orb glowed and immediately, Sonic and Fleetway found themselves surrounded by other people in long robes. Although most of them seemed to be mobians, Sonic found them rather small, in comparison to himself. Even the hedgehogs he could make out by their backquills poking out of the robes were rather small, yet looked mature...
It took him another second to realize, that this was John's perspective, he was of course taller than most mobians. Curiously, he looked around. The ground was now rough stone with sand on it. Buildings, that were rather broad, than high, stood around him, sandy carpets in their entrances trying to make them look inviting. From what he could see, there were only shops around them, although he couldn't read the writings over the shops at all, that was a completely different language. He also noticed, that most people were wearing blue, or had blue fur, hair or scales – yet, he could easily tell, that they were dyed.
In the shadows of the building he could see dirty people, looking like walking skeletons, sitting on their knees with bowed heads, apparently trying to gain attention from the passing people. This had to be the poor people.
He also noticed, that he didn't only see and hear, what John heard and saw, he could also feel the heat of the desert city and smell foreign scents, that seemed to come from food being prepared somewhere. So this was, what 'with all senses' meant. It was a weird feeling, as if he was standing on a platform in John's opened head, connected to his senses – and apparently feelings, considering the knot of anxiety, that he felt in his stomach, but wasn't his.
He was startled a bit, when the whole scene suddenly shifted, as John had turned his glare from the surroundings to a piece of paper in his slightly trembling hands.
At first, it looked like a colorful mess, but then he could make out a shape, that looked like a small yellow castle with green towers. A few windows were next to the opening, that was just a black hole, apart from a badly drawn green figure with blue eyes, that seemed to cry and wave with outstretched, peach colored arms.
The scene shifted again, when John looked up, staring at a building, that looked disturbingly similar to the drawn one. It was out of yellow sandstone and towered above them. Green flags swung lazily in a breeze on three battlement-like structures right on the building's roof. Another unknown writing was above the opening, highlighted by the pictures of a male and a female cat mobian in rather suggestive poses behind the writing. Sonic was kind of glad, that those hadn't been in the child's, probably Emma's, drawing.
"This is the place.," Sonic heard John mumble to himself, before he started to move towards the building. He was trembling apparently, since the picture was slightly distorted – which actually made Sonic a bit dizzy.
After stepping into the building without any hindrances, John seemed to calm down. He stopped trembling mostly, looked around the small foyer-like room directly behind the entrance and Sonic jerked a little – along with John – when they came face to face with a blue haired human in long blue robes. It took John, who quickly relaxed, less longer than Sonic to realize, that they were looking in a mirror. John had dyed his – to this time reaching his shoulders – hair dark blue, which didn't suit him at all. He was rather pale and make-up was almost completely concealing dark rings under his eyes, signs of his depression. He apparently also tried to hide, how thin he actually was. The wide, heavy feeling clothes definitely hid a lot. Seeing the wrinkled nose of the mirror image, John thought apparently not, that he was pretty good looking, just like Sonic.
Chaos, I look like a Sonic the Hedgehog-fanatic., he heard John's voice, but since his lips hadn't moved, it was apparently a direct, conscious thought.
Well, he couldn't agree more. A good year after becoming famous, he had had a lot of people trying to imitate his 'style'. It had taken quite a while, until he had managed to convince them, that his blue fur wasn't a fashion statement, but his natural fur color. Some of his fans probably felt pretty stupid to imitate him in the first place, once he told them that – others, however, felt even more obligated to rid every store of the color blue, if he trusted the newspaper articles he read after his successful statement.
Enough stalling, let's go., John told himself and went through the second entrance into a large, almost dark room. Windows were only in the front, the back was completely windowless, or at least completely covered by dark, thick curtains. All kinds of people were filling the room, talking with each other, standing close to a wooden stage in the back, on that was a man in red robes.
He was just talking into a microphone, when John entered. "Ladies and gentlemen!," his booming voice was carried into every corner by big speakers close to the ceiling above the stage. "Our auction will begin shortly! Please take your last chance to examine the goods before, in the room to my right. Thank you!" Then he said something in another language, but it seemed to be the same. They were apparently prepared for international visitors.
John turned to the direction the man had meant and saw a pair of dark blue, opened curtains.
I need to be sure., John thought and made his way over. He stumbled back again on the threshold – and Sonic knew, why. A gruesome stench greeted him, seemingly a mix out of urine, vomit, sweat and no fresh air at all. Composing himself, which was probably not so easy, John made his way inside.
The room behind the curtains was bigger, than it had looked like from the outside. The floor and the walls were laid out with carpets as the only means of decoration. There were also a lot of people, but John was tall enough to look above their heads. Sonic was just not sure, if either of them wanted to see this clearly, what was going on here.
The 'goods' were people. Through the room went several rows of wooden constructions, surrounded by low wooden fences with little doors in them in the front, over that John could step effortlessly. They seemed to be there to keep the people on a distance, not out.
The constructions were out of three logs: a longer, that stood vertically, embedded, for greater stability, in a very low wooden pedestal, that wasn't even high enough to be a full step in a flight of stairs, and two shorter logs, that had been nailed horizontally against the vertical one. And to each single one was tied a person. Their arms hung behind the top horizontal log and they were tied to it by the shoulders. Their ankles were tied to the bottom horizontal log, spread apart and balancing on the pedestal, that was too small to stand safely, leaving them open to all looks and touches. They had to hurt in mere minutes in that unnatural position and from standing on the unstable ground.
Sonic had a queasy feeling just seeing this from afar, although he wasn't so sure, if he felt it, or John. It was probably both.
John looked around, apparently looking for Scourge, but it was hard to make out details of the bound people in the back.
Suddenly, John jerked, which caused the whole scene to jostle, too, when a voice, speaking a foreign language, suddenly sounded next to him.
The surroundings became clearer again, when he focused on a man looking up to him, since he was rather small.
He wore red robes, had tan skin and a thin black mustache. His dark eyes looked curious, but also distrustful. "I...er...I'm sorry?," John tried, Sonic felt sweat going down the human's back.
The man scrutinized him, before his face lit up. "Ah, you aren't from here, sir!," he stated happily, in perfect English.
"Y-yes, I-" Shit, what had the cover story been?, John thought desperately, while he stuttered.
Sonic resisted the urge to facepalm. John was definitely not a spy, that was quite clear. Thankfully, the man didn't need explanations. "Thank you for choosing our slave-shop, I know, that you had the choice among many. It's always an honor to welcome new guests!," he happily chattered away, apparently it was his job to get new clients to buy here.
"Is this your first time in a slave shop? I would be happy to explain everything!," the man offered politely.
"Yes...that would be nice.," John reluctantly agreed. "Perfect, follow me!," the man chirped and quickly went to the first row, with John following, who didn't need to hurry so much, since his legs were longer.
"Here are the slaves, that we are going to sell. If you are interested in one of the slaves, you can, for a small fee, step behind the fence to examine the desired slave. I'm afraid, you have to bid nonetheless for them. While examining, you should try to keep the slave undamaged – damaging it on purpose will result in you not being able to attend the auction."
"I understand!," John quickly agreed, if only to get the other to stop talking about the topic. "Thank you. You are by the way allowed to examine ALL areas of the slaves, we would just ask you to not penetrate in any way, just in case. Wasting money on medication for slaves is something we try to spare our clients from.," the man explained with a neutral voice, making poor John even more uncomfortable.
Sonic wasn't so sure, if the bile rising in his throat was his, or John's. "S-sure...," the man stuttered.
"Thank you. Next to each slave stands an information giver, he'll inform you about the most important details of each slave, like origin, age, training, etc. Of course, you can always ask for more than just the basics, our information givers are all very well informed. Now, we separate the slaves in two categories. Right in the front are the green marked slaves."
The man pointed to wooden signs in one corner of the fences each, informing about the worth of the slave. A green silky cloth was tied to the top of the sign, explaining the name of the category.
"Those are secondhand-slaves, their owners sold them.," he continued. I better pretend to be interested, until the time is right. He might know, if Scourge is here., John thought quickly, the thought process almost too fast for even the hero to catch it properly, before he asked, merely a second later, "Why?"
"Usually, slaves are bought for a certain reason. You know, work, servitude, company, a child..."
"A-a child?," John gasped. "Oh yes, you know, it's sometimes so hard to find a woman, who agrees with the...tastes of a man, so they buy a female slave as a mate. They never resist, after all. However, when they have done the deed, they are usually of no need anymore and get sold. The good thing is, that those secondhand-slaves are perfectly tame and obedient."
With a grin, the man pointed to one of the slaves, a female rabbit mobian, that couldn't be older than seventeen, tied to the construction, her head down and seemingly not caring, that two human men were holding one of her breasts each and squeezing and pulling them without limitations, while apparently fighting over how they found them.
By now, Sonic wondered, how John was still keeping his food down. That was a disgusting place.
"Er...w-what else do you have?," John managed to bring out. "Ah, I see, you are not satisfied with the second best! Please follow me into the yellow section!," the – by now disturbingly – happy man beamed and led John between two slaves, whom the young man didn't even spare a glance, which was probably for the best, to another few rows, where there were only yellow cloths around the signs, that were showing higher prices, too.
"These are fresh slaves, mostly virgins, too, just from the streets. They are unused, but trained for the basics: reading, cooking, cleaning, dancing and obeying. The last row also in pleasuring, if you are interested in that. Of course, we can always teach them another desired skill, if you wish."
"A-ah...," John stammered and Sonic felt, how the man heated up. Someone, bring me back to the Island, that's a thousand times better than that!, he begged in his head.
Sonic tsked. "Yeah, right.," he thought, although the feeling became gradually mutual. Anything was better, than that.
The young human cleared his throat. "I...er...I'm...actually...l-looking for s-something...s-special, you know?," he forced out. The man frowned for the first time, since he had met John.
"Special?," he asked, a strange tone to his voice. As if he already had a clue, about what he was talking...
"Yeah.," John replied, growing confident. "You know, those, they are just...boring.," he almost squeaked out, gesturing lamely towards the rows in front of him. Thankfully, the background noises covered the tone up, since the other listened intently, his face showing only interest.
Oh, Chaos, I'm sounding like my father!, the young man thought, but forced himself to press on, apparently trying his best to copy his father further. "I mean, I got those slaves for my birthday and they fought with everything they had against me, until I broke them – and let me tell you this, I enjoyed every second of breaking them. What's so funny about perfectly obedient slaves?," he asked, almost sounding completely uncaringly.
I'm going to wash out my mouth with a soap bar, when this is over., John thought, while the gears of the other turned and an even more disturbing smirk made its way on his face.
"Ahhh, if you would follow me?," the man asked with a bow and led the surprised John to another pair of curtains.
He pushed one aside and revealed a wooden door behind it. The man opened it and led John into a small office. The desk, with surprisingly modern equipment on the top of it, took almost all the space.
"Please, take a seat.," the human offered, pointing to a cushioned, luxurious chair in front of it, while closing the door, going behind the desk and taking a seat, too. He looked at John with nothing but professionalism, the happy mask from outside the office was gone. Now, there was only the calculating head of this place left.
"I get, what you are looking for, but that is a little complicated, Mr...?" "Perringten." For once, having this name is a blessing.
"Perringten?," the man repeated thoughtfully. "I know this name..." He turned away and started to dig through a drawer.
John started to sweat again. Oh, crap. "Th-that was just...!" Just my father trying to destroy the world. Yeah, that'll come over smoothly., he thought sarcastically.
"Here we have it.," the man said, straightening and holding a dusty file, which confused John – and his audience – quite a bit. He opened it, quickly scanning the few papers inside it.
"Ah, yes, our records are very detailed, we never forget a name. Your ancestor Eli Perringten had been very generous, we never had another client buying that much slaves in such a short time. He had a taste for our vast collection of hedgehogs."
I bet, John thought and said at the same time. "I sure hope, that you will try to best your ancestor.," the man said with good humor, but it didn't sound like a joke.
"We'll see.," John replied, feeling uncomfortable. When he noticed the loss of humor of the other, he quickly added, "I'm no one to just trust, what I haven't tried personally, so just one will have to do for a start." You'll never see me again, asshole.
"Of course, please forgive my rudeness. My name is Liad, by the way." Sounds almost like liar. I doubt, that it's a coincidence, he thought, while they shook hands. And I'm so disinfecting my hand, when this is over.
"Now, Mister Perringten, my shop offers a broad spectrum of high qualitative slaves. Most of our assortment did you already see, but we do have a third, a blue category as well. This is the category of...imported slaves. You need to understand, that we try to satisfy all of our customers' wishes – even the hardly legal ones. The blue category is the most expensive one, too. We only show them to an exclusive group of people and please forgive my rudeness once more, but before I talk further, I need to affirm, that you are belonging to this group."
He pulled out a device, that could measure the amount on someone's account by reading out the debit card. "I hope you don't mind, but in my business, you quickly learn, that names and reputations are changing rather quickly."
"Of course.," John agreed, although Sonic could feel his confusion. He didn't understand this statement, but didn't question it. The scene shifted, as he bent to the side to reach for his wallet. He pulled out his brown leather wallet and opened it, looking down on the contents. Behind a transparent plastic case on the right was the picture of a woman. There was no doubt for Sonic, that this was Joanna.
She looked pretty much like John, the same hair and eye color. She held a bundle in her arms, that was without a doubt John as a newborn. She had apparently a happy smile on her face, but it was barely noticeable, because of the op-mask she wore in front of her mouth and nose.
This was, however, not the only sign of sickness. The hospital gown she wore was drenched in cold sweat around the collar and under the arms, just like her face and hair, her face was sickly pale and dark rings were under her eyes. Her arms, holding the bundle ever so gently, had dark spots on them, signs of decay. Her beautiful long hair seemed to have fallen out here and there, but it wasn't that noticeably, yet. As the photographer had apparently stood, while she had been sitting on her bed, it was more obvious, than when the one making the photo would have been on her eye level. It was probably the only picture John had of his mother, which was just sad.
John pulled out a plastic card, snapped his wallet shut and gave the card to Liad, who slid in in the bottom of his device. He looked at the screen and his jaw dropped open, while his eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. Too bad, that Sonic couldn't see, just what amount was displayed there. It had to be quite a lot.
Fighting for composure, Liad pulled the card out again and returned it. "Please excuse my doubts, Mr. Perringten." He cleared his throat several times, before he could speak further. "As...you are...more than worthy, sir..." He cleared his throat again. "...I'll be more than happy to explain everything. We keep the blue category in a special room. I will lead you right to it, as soon, as the paperwork is done."
He slammed a surprisingly large stack of papers on the desk between them. "With signing these papers you agree to keep the blue category a secret and to never appear with a slave bought here in public outside of Saha. Of course, you can keep them also in your mansion."
"My mansion?," John repeated confused. Liad frowned. "The mansion your ancestor built. It is still empty.," he explained, distrust returning to his features.
"Ah. Oh, yes, you're right, I'm sorry, that has to be the jetlag. You see, I have so many mansions, that I just forget one or two sometimes.," John laughed sheepishly. I SO need to research, what other mansions I forgot., he thought.
Liad seemed to believe him, thankfully. "Of course. Anyway, if you are to return to the lands outside of Saha, you can leave your slave – or slaves, of course – in our care. We keep them contained, fed and, if you wish, busy. You have of course our guarantee, that they won't be harmed, unless misbehaving."
"Good...to know.," John replied, while scanning the papers and signing countless bottom lines. He seemed used to reading contracts like these, he never lingered too long on one page, his eyes scanning the lines carefully, though.
Finally done – for what Sonic was thankful, since he got a headache from the mass of complicated words and phrases –, he gave the papers back.
Liad scanned them quickly as well, before stuffing them in the Perringten-file and stashing it away. "Thank you for your cooperation. Now, please, follow me."
He stood up, searching with his fingers something under the desk's top, before the wall opposite the door suddenly slid to the side, revealing a secret staircase.
Liad went to the staircase and John followed him. "You will be able to look at each slave as much as you like.," the older man began to explain, while they went deeper and deeper under the ground. Sonic felt, that the temperature dropped and noticed, that the air became stale.
"We offer a special auction for our clients interested in the blue category. It won't begin, until all customers sit in their seats. You were coming just right, I won't allow another person to enter the auction. Please don't let that worry you. I reassure you personally, that you aren't in a hurry. Take your time – and if there is something you need, aside of delicious snacks and an assortment of sweetest wines, that we'll offer for free, of course, just ask our personnel. They'll be happy to help."
"Sure.," John replied with polite interest. I'll never be able to drink enough booze to forget this horrible place.
They reached a pair of closed blue curtains. "Please, after you.," Liad bowed and moved one of the curtains away. John thanked him with a nod, before entering cautiously.
Sonic's jaw dropped with John's. They definitely didn't lie about the 'blue' part.
The large room was lined with heavy dark blue curtains. Blue carpets softened the ground. Blue as well as red crystals were hanging from the ceiling, lining the room, their light illuminating the room. Sonic noticed, that the temperature was rather warm, almost too warm for him. A heavy scent of perfume hung in the air. It was a surprise, that there was still oxygen to breathe. A few figures – far less than upstairs – moved around the space. On the right was a row of light blue curtains, apparently hiding the slaves and possibly interested customers. Small wooden signs informed about what slave awaited them behind the curtains.
From the entrance, John – and Sonic – could read the first sign, being written in the language of Saha and English alike:
Female
Beaver mobian
~17 years old
orange fur color
homeless
"The auction will take place in the room to your left, further in the back. Allow me to help you find the perfect slave for y-" Liad, who had brought attention back to him, when he had started to speak, interrupted himself, when a strange noise came from his left, wide sleeve. He frowned and pulled out an almost antique walkie-talkie. He barked into the device in his mother tongue and received a hectic reply in the same language.
Liad sighed in defeat, replied something and put the device back. "I'm terribly sorry, Mr. Perringten, but there is a small problem upstairs. I'll return as soon as possible."
"Take your time.," John waved after the quickly retreating man. Run to the other side of the planet and you are still too close to me.
Shaking his head, John turned to go deeper in the room. He walked rather slow, but probably just to not raise suspicions. He looked at the signs, reading them quickly to not waste time – and as a consequence almost tripped over his clothes, when he reached a certain sign.
Male
Hedgehog mobian
~20 years old
green fur color
homeless
His heartbeat quickened. He wanted to enter the space behind the curtain next to the sign, when he noticed something next to it on the ground.
It was a bony human girl with long, unkempt dark brown hair. It pooled on the ground around her. She wore a rag, that looked like a potato sack with holes for her head and arms. It barely covered her thighs. She just sat on her knees on the ground, her hands limply on her lap, a collar around her neck with a leash attached to a small metal ring in the collar, her dark green eyes looking into nothing.
"Er...are you okay?," John carefully asked, confused of who this was and what she did down there.
The girl, who couldn't be much older than sixteen, didn't look up. "Please don't waste your time with this lowly slave.," she mumbled in a monotone voice.
"...Ah.," was all John could reply, feeling uncomfortable and overwhelmed. Seeing though, that he could not help her, he went finally behind the curtain.
There, on a low pedestal, just a few steps away from him, were three persons. One was without a doubt the information giver, like upstairs, the second was for sure Scourge, he recognized his beloved leather jacket clothing the bound arms.
What had his jaw drop once more, however, was the third person. And he wasn't the only one. Fleetway and Sonic joined him.
In front of Scourge, with his back to John, stood another mobian hedgehog. He had bright yellow fur and his head quills stood straight, pointing to the sky. He wore a dark blue cape, expensive looking golden gloves and dark blue, strange looking shoes, whose tips were curled backwards. Besides the clothing, he looked like...Fleetway.
Sonic felt, that John's jaw was still dropped and his mind in turmoil, while his body slowly walked closer.
The information giver spotted him and quickly hurried down the small staircase, trying to get him to stop in his language, but John just pushed him away absentmindedly. His eyes were locked on the two hedgehogs the whole time.
When he finally reached the top of the pedestal, he could hear the light hedgehog talking with a voice, that was far different from Fleetway's, "...just beautiful. You'll be such a great addition to my collection, my Green Daisy.," he whispered almost lovingly.
At once, he grabbed Scourge's thigh, squeezing hard, causing the green uke to scream weakly and hoarsely, the sound letting John, Sonic and Fleetway jump in shock. "Mmm, love that sound.," the Fleetway-faker purred, leaning closer to the bound uke and nuzzling him, pretty much marking him with his scent, what Sonic and Fleetway realized more, than John. "Can't wait to bed you, you're for sure a great lay.," he continued, causing three sets of insides to freeze.
That's it! I didn't get him off the Island to fall into...this!, John thought, while Sonic suddenly noticed, that his surroundings started to darken, as if somebody or something was dimming the light, but it wasn't this late already in reality, was it?
He was ripped out of his musing by a sharp pain, that John suddenly felt in his palm and that he felt, too.
He looked up to see John's hand, that was suddenly surrounded by some kind of dark mist, buried in the yellow hedgehog's head quills, that he pulled harshly, effectively separating the two mobians, letting the yellow hedgehog fall on his butt.
"Hands off him!," he hissed at the male, who stared up at him with startled amber eyes, the next thing – aside the clothes and the voice – that differed him from Fleetway.
In the next second, he sneered hatefully at the young human. "How DARE you touch me!?," he snarled. "Don't you know, who I am? I am Prince the Hedgehog, King of Saha!," he shouted angrily.
To Sonic's surprise, John started to laugh, but it sounded cold and joyless. "So your name is 'King Prince'? Man, your parents really don't like you, do they?," he chuckled, belittling him.
The hedgehog stared at him, before turning beet red. "Do you have a death wish!? I am the mightiest person in all Saha! Everything here belongs to ME!," he screamed, jumping up, which didn't exactly help in trying to be intimidating, since John was still at least 50 centimeters taller.
John laughed a little louder at that. "You fool! Saha is nothing but a sandcastle in comparison to the rest of the world. And now guess, who owns the world outside your little walls – correct, me! I'm the richest man in the world, you are shit in comparison to me!," he smirked evilly, bending down to touch noses with the smaller. Prince looked at him with hatred and Sonic could only guess, that John's glare equaled his. "I can do whatever I want and there is nothing you can do against it.," he whispered, a silent threat woven in his words.
The clearing of a throat let them turn around. Sonic blinked. Was this...another doppelganger? Clad in red robes, like all the employees here, stood Mephiles, who watched the scene with attentive green eyes.
"Hmph. Seems, as if the richest man on Mobius has a problem with teaching his slaves manners.," Prince taunted.
Instantly, the surroundings became lighter again and John blinked rapidly. "My...slave?," he repeated, completely thrown off trail.
Prince smirked. "Here, that's how a real slave looks like.," he grinned and pointed to the side.
John turned to where he pointed. The girl from before slipped through the curtain, her head bowed and her face hidden behind her untidy hair. "You called for me?," she asked calmly.
Prince sneered. "Who gave you permission to speak!?," he screamed at her and before anyone could stop him, he had already raised his hand and slapped the girl, who was unfortunately not tall enough to avoid that fate, or make it at least more difficult, so hard, that she fell on the ground like a rag doll.
"Are y-," John wanted to rage, but something suddenly blocked his mouth, cutting him off, while forcing his arms to stay by his sides, not able to lift them to free himself from the sudden gag.
"See? That's how you handle a slave. Loser.," Prince smirked and turned to leave, not without a last look back to Scourge and a confident smirk, as if he already knew, who would have the last laugh.
The slave girl stood up word- and effortlessly and followed him, her hair and her leash dragging across the floor.
Once they were gone, the thing blocking his mouth and trapping his arms disappeared as quickly, as they had appeared. John still wiped his mouth, but found nothing there.
"Sir?," the information giver, who had watched the interaction of the two customers silently, since there hadn't been anything he could have done to interfere, spoke up. He had figured by now, that he needed to use English to communicate with John.
"I take it, that you want to inspect this slave?," he asked and pointed to Scourge, who just hung limply in his binds.
"I...er..." John looked between Scourge and Mephiles – if he was that, that is – who nodded subtly towards the pedestal. "Y-yes..."
With that, he turned around and went back to Scourge, who showed no signs of consciousness.
He climbed the steps, still confused about just what was happening here. A fake Fleetway, a fake Mephiles, this strange behavior of his...
He almost ran into Scourge due to being distracted with his thoughts, but managed to stop himself, before he actually could. He blinked and forced his confusion back, so that he could focus on the present. Thanks to their height difference, Scourge looked even smaller and worse off.
He jumped a little, when the information giver began to talk, having followed him silently. "This exemplar was caught just three days ago.," he started.
Three... Emma, Silver, a little earlier would have been nice!, John thought angrily and for a second, the surroundings darkened again, but returned quickly to normal.
"He is actually quite a fighter, we needed to starve and dehydrate him a bit, before we could put a collar on him. Of course, he is still perfectly capable of working.," the information giver continued.
How? He can obviously not even hold himself up! The surroundings darkened again, for a little longer this time, but eventually returned to normal once more.
"I...could you leave for a bit?," John asked, feeling worried about his unstable emotions now. If that guy would tell one more horrible detail about Scourge, he would probably strangle him.
"I'm sorry, sir, but that is impossible, I'm not allowed to leave clients with the merchandise.," the man replied wit a bow, but another gesture of his told a different story: He held out his hand, wanting a payment for his leaving. John crinkled his nose in disgust, but forked over a few banknotes – that were worth a hundred rings each – to get the man away from him. "Pleasure to make business with you, sir. You have ten minutes." And with that, he left.
"I really hope, that this 'Prince' didn't do the same.," John muttered, once the other had left the confined room. He turned to Scourge and got down on one knee to be closer to his eye level.
"Scourge? Scourge, can you hear me?," he tried to reach the limp hedgehog, but he got no reaction.
Hesitantly, he reached out and carefully touched his cheek, pulling his hand back almost instantly, when he felt the heat under his fingertips.
"He is bad off, huh?," a voice asked suddenly next to John and he whipped around to see the Mephiles-lookalike next to him.
"M-Mephiles?," John asked carefully. "No, I am not Mephiles.," the other replied calmly. "Fantastic. First this crazy place, then the Fleetway-wannabe, now you and those mood swings of mine – what comes n- HMPH!"
Once more, something laid itself over his lips, stopping him from ranting more. His arms were free this time and he reached immediately up, trying to remove the something, but found nothing there. As if his lips were glued together... "Careful, human, or I keep your mouth sealed for a day.," the dark furred being threatened. "I am NOT Mephiles, I'm a part of him."
He let go whatever was blocking John's mouth and the male looked the mobian up and down. "...Which part?," he finally asked.
The mobian facepalmed and groaned in annoyance. "A body cell, human. The original Mephiles doesn't have time to come, so he created me to come here and support you."
"He doesn't have time!? What could possibly be more important than saving his mate's friend?," John asked incredulously.
"We aren't playing Twenty Questions here, human.," the Mephiles-doppelganger replied, growling.
"Okay, okay. So, can you get us out of here?," John quickly caved. The being sighed and shook his head.
"I'm afraid, no." "What? Aren't you able to do the same as Mephiles?," John asked confused.
"In theory, I am, but he didn't know about those crystals they use here." "The blue and red ones?," John asked, remembering the strange decoration apparently as much, as Sonic did.
"Indeed. They are apparently generating warmth and oxygen. But they also give out an energy, that is blocking off mine. I'm afraid, as long as we are in those walls, I'm having very limited abilities.," the lookalike explained, gritting his teeth.
"Ah.," John nodded in understanding. "So we can't just take him. We need to buy him to free him.," he muttered, hating the idea already.
A silent groan let both turn around to Scourge. The green furred male attempted to straighten, but the leg, that Prince had previously gripped, seemed to hurt too much to succeed. At least it wasn't bleeding, but it would for sure bruise.
"Scourge!," John exclaimed, a little too unexpected for the poor uke, who flinched back and bumped against the wooden construction, hissing in pain. John winced in sympathy. "Sorry."
He slowly came a little closer, trying to catch the mobian's glare. "Scourge, can you hear me?," John asked silently and finally, the light blue eyes opened to look at him. Or at least, they tried. He blinked several times, nothing but confusion in his eyes. "Don't you recognize me? It's me, John!," the young human pretty much begged. Scourge's ears twitched upon hearing the name and he frowned in concentration, blinking again, but this time trying to clear his vision.
"What happened to your hair?," he asked, a bit of surprise in his hoarse voice. John smirked weakly. "Doesn't matter. Listen, you need to hold on just a little longer, okay? I'll buy you and you'll be free."
To his surprise, the hedgehog shook his head. "Don't. I know, what they pay here. I'd never be able to repay you.," he whispered.
John paused. "Are you stupid?," he finally asked, making Scourge look up to him again. "Do you think, I did THIS to my beautiful person," he pointed to his hair, "and came into this hellhole because I want you – or anyone – to repay me? I'm here, because I want to help you! I don't even expect a thank you, okay? Just wait for a little while, I have freed you in no time."
Scourge just stared at him, before he hung his head in defeat. "Say, earlier...was there..." He paused, frowning. "No, forget it, I must be seeing things." He exhaled. "This isn't, what I promised.," he mumbled, before passing out again.
Sonic's heart beat hard, when he heard that. While John tried unsuccessfully to rouse the male again, he remembered, just what promise he meant.
He had last seen Scourge about two years ago, shortly before he had disappeared overnight from his house. Back then, he had wanted to make sure, that the Gamma had been recovering well, but he had felt, that Scourge had been antsy to leave.
"I want to run. Be free. Just...finding myself. Don't worry, I'll be fine. I promised myself to never be indebted again by anyone.," he had said with a confident smirk.
Seemed, as if he hadn't been able to hold that promise. Even if John didn't want anything in return for the rescue, it didn't change the fact, that he was in his debt. He had had to feel so tiny and weak in this situation.
John had just given up on trying to wake Scourge again, when the hero looked up once more, and was standing up. "Let's get this auction started.," he growled and moved off the pedestal, although he was reluctant to leave the uke alone again.
"Whatever you say...Master.," the Mephiles-lookalike replied from behind him, while audibly following him.
John almost stumbled down the stairs, when he heard that. "M-master?," he stuttered, turning around to the being. "We need a good explanation, why I am here, don't we?," the being shrugged. Sonic had the feeling, that he knew now, what 'little problem' had driven Liad away earlier ...and whose clothes Mephiles was wearing there.
"Sure...," John replied reluctantly. He wasn't exactly keen on having a slave at all, Sonic could feel his resistance, but he also knew, that they had no other option.
They left the curtains, the fake Mephiles following after him, and went to the auction room, where thankfully everyone was already gathered. The – also blue kept – room was parted in half by a stage in the back. In the other half were ten seats in two straight rows.
Prince was also there, sitting in the outer left seat in the first row, using the slave girl as his footstool. The only free seat was the outer right one in the front row, so John had to go past him to reach it. Clearly not happy about it, he walked quickly around him and to the seat, not looking once in his direction.
The sound of a whip being used behind him let him turn around, however, to see a welt on the second Mephiles' face, who looked rather startled, and Prince smirking, the whip in question in his hand. "Oh, my bad, my hand must have slipped.," Prince gasped in fake shock.
"You-" The surroundings started to darken again, when the second Mephiles spoke up. "I'm sorry for allowing another to punish me, Master." He spoke in a monotone voice, as if he had said that so often, that it just got stuck in his brain, yet, he had no feelings connected to the sentence. Instantly, the surroundings became light once more.
"Er...let's go.," John decided, to avoid a confrontation and lose time, and he quickly made his way over to the free seat.
The Mephiles-copy just followed and came to a stand next to him, looking like a more or less obedient slave waiting for orders.
John bent over to him. "Are you okay?," he whispered, concerned. "Don't worry about it. I wasn't created to feel pain.," came the neutral, silent reply.
John looked at the welt going over his left eye. "That will for sure scar..." "It doesn't matter.," the dark being shrugged. "I won't live to see the next day anyway."
"H-huh!?," John gasped. "Mephiles didn't create me, because he wished for a twin brother. I'm a mere temporal replacement for him. I'll disappear in approximately five hours. Let's hope, that everything works out quickly.," the being shrugged. It was apparently not created to wish for a longer life, just to function.
John swallowed dryly, and turned his attention rather forwards, where two men in red robes just stepped on the stage.
They both started talking at the same time, one in the language of Saha, the other in English, which made it a bit difficult to listen, but John managed it. Thankfully, they didn't use microphones, which would have echoed horribly in the rather small room.
"Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to this exclusive auction. Please wait with your first bid, until the auctioneer asks for it. Also, don't refer to any kind of violence to get the goods you are interested in. Just try to outbid the other clients – and if you fail, there might always be another slave you might like.," they added playfully, causing chuckles going through the mass, that John didn't join. "Please enjoy your time here, thank you!"
They both ended at the same time, turning to face each other, gesturing to the back of the stage, from that came just a young female rat mobian, getting dragged in by two strong looking men, her thin arms trapped between their bulky muscles and armlets. She looked rather numb, maybe even sedated, or drugged. In any way, she didn't put up a fight at all. It was hard to say, if she was even conscious.
"Here we have offering number one, Bella!," the two moderators introduced her, with faked data, no doubt. While they went on with describing, where she came from and what she could be used for, a third man, carrying a small, high table, came on the stage to stand to the left, but still visibly for the whole audience.
The moderators were finally done and the man behind the table hit the wooden surface with a small wooden hammer to get their attention. He started to speak and the English speaking man translated his words immediately. "We will begin now our auction. We will start with 2000 rings!"
Saha had apparently a different currency, since the auctioneer was holding up three fingers, not two. The translator seemed to know that and had changed the currency accordingly. Then again, who knew, what the auctioneer started with? It could be 3 rings – well, the equivalence of 3 rings – for all he knew.
Prince was among the bidders, bidding in his mother tongue and eventually purchasing the girl, who got dragged off again.
The auctioneer handed a lightly clothed girl appearing in front of the stage a slip of paper, that she gave Prince, while the man explained in a routinized voice, together with the translator for the foreign guests to know, that he could already go and get his slave next to the auction, or wait for the end of it to try and purchase more. At least I'll be out of here quickly., John thought sarcastically.
"And here comes number two!," the moderators explained and thankfully – or not – it was Scourge. The poor uke had been tied to the same construction as before, that got wheeled in on a board with small wheels. Apparently, his quills had made this measure necessary. They seemed quite routinized with handling spiny mobians.
"Here we have Speedy the Hedgehog, in his early twenties, picked from the streets for your desire and entertainment! See it as a little game – I'm sure you have all heard of the uke-mystery! Who knows, maybe you'll purchase one of those rare specimens today!"
John looked quickly over to Prince, who had bent forwards in his seat and was licking his lips, desire clearly noticeably in his eyes, even more than before.
"To top it off – Speedy here has a special skill, the gift of speed! You can lock him in your lions' den and watch him avoid your hungry pets for hours!" Another short look around the audience told John, that having a lion's den was apparently something, that many of the others had, since no one seemed surprised or confused to hear that. A few, like the tiger mobian next to him, just seemed disappointed, that they apparently didn't have one, yet.
The auctioneer said something, for sure giving the start signal for the bidding, but before the translator had the chance to interpret, Prince had already jumped on the slave girl's back and screamed something, that had all people either gasp, go silent, or pale.
The interpreter, who belong to the third category, somehow found his voice again and croaked, "His m-majesty is bidding with t-ten million r-rings...".
Judging by the reactions of the others, this was apparently more, than a slave was worth usually. That was also most likely more, than anyone was willing to spend. Well, anyone, but one.
"Twenty million!," John shouted, jumping up. The interpreter swallowed and quickly translated the sum to the auctioneer, whose eyes widened, too, but he went to seal the deal, until Prince interrupted him. "Thirty million!" He seemed to use English on purpose, so John would hear directly, that he was out-bidden. "Forty million!," John shouted right back.
This went on for quite a while. In no time, John and Prince were screaming at each other, rather than at the auctioneer, giving the translator barely no time to translate, the price for Scourge – his life and whole being – climbing endlessly up. Sonic was just glad, that Scourge was too far gone to witness it.
This can't go on forever! We lose time!, John thought desperately. It was impossible for him to say, just how much time they lost with bidding and glaring already.
Suddenly, something unexpected happened. The slave girl, on whose back Prince had been standing all the time, suddenly raised quickly to just sitting on her knees, which caused the completely unprepared hedgehog to fall off her and on the ground.
John stared with his jaw slack, until the translator's voice reminded him, that Prince was about to buy Scourge, as his bid had been the last one, so he quickly called, "740 million!", out-bidding the other, before observing the scene further.
Prince was trying to scramble on his feet, but he got tangled in his cape and before he had the chance to even sit up properly, the girl, who was looking with her deep green eyes in John's the whole time, balled her bony fist, swung it and landed it – directly in her master's crotch.
Prince yelled in pain, curling himself up on instinct and all males watching winced, as they pretty much felt his pain, but nobody went to help him. If it was forbidden to touch him, as he was part of the royalty here, or if they feared his wrath, if they got too close too soon, John didn't know.
He jumped, when the girl from before held the slip of paper under his eyes. "Er...thanks." He grabbed the piece of paper, before returning his attention back to the slave girl, who smiled at him with such a happy expression, as if him buying Scourge had been her biggest wish ever, that he just fulfilled. She was completely unaware of Prince straightening behind her like a looming shadow.
John wanted to do something – not sure, what exactly he COULD do – when the Mephiles-copy grabbed his arm and they found themselves suddenly outside the auction-room, without having done a single step.
"Wait, I need to-" He interrupted himself, when the second Mephiles sank to his knees, holding onto John's sleeve like a lifeline. "What's wrong?," the young human asked, worried.
"My strength is waning exponentially. We need to hurry.," the second Mephiles growled lowly, his grip slacking and falling from his sleeve.
"O-of course!," John gasped and looked around frantically, trying to find the place, where he could pick up Scourge.
Sonic frowned. He didn't know exactly, what 'exponentially' meant, but when Tails used this term, then it was either an explanation for an explosion, that happened far too often in their home – or, if it came to a fight against Eggman, a reason to panic and/or to hurry.
"There!," John gasped and raced over to a stand with a smiling, friendly looking human behind it, not at all affected by the hurry of his customer.
"Hi, I'd like to get my slave. Quick, please.," he greeted, placing the slip of paper, that only contained a number – probably an ID Scourge had gotten – and the amount of money he had purchased Scourge with, on the counter. He was apparently also getting, that they were running out of time here.
"Of course, sir. Please transfer the amount, now.," the man replied, placing a device between them, that allowed it to pay with a debit card. It was too big to hold it with one hand, so the man would always be able to see the amount typed in. Not caring about it, John stuffed his card in the slit and quickly typed in the necessary digits, smashing the zero so often, that he was actually giving more than seven billion rings, and therefore far more, than he had really bought Scourge with before, but the man didn't seem to think, that it was necessary to tell him.
John hit the enter-button and drummed his fingers impatiently. "Thank you for your gracious investment. One moment, please.," the man said politely and vanished behind a pair of curtains.
John sighed and still drummed his fingers on the wooden board between the man and him in a weak try of calming down. He turned to the second Mephiles. "How long?," he asked in a low voice. "Thirty minutes, if we're lucky."
"Fantastic.," John grumbled, looking over to where the slave girl from earlier was. Now, that he wasn't distracted as much anymore, he could hear the sound of a whip being used relentlessly, without a doubt on the girl. Yet, the only one screaming was Prince, the girl was silent, which added up to John's worry. "Can't we help her?," he asked sorrowfully, feelings of guilt filling his heart and joining the worry.
"Either the hedgehog, or the human. You can't save them both.," the Mephiles-doppelganger replied neutrally.
John bit his lip. Is that, how a hero has to live? Deciding, who has to die and who may live? Chaos, I'm not envying Sonic anymore, promise., he thought.
Sonic frowned. It wasn't like that. It wasn't, like he played God, or anything. He tried to save everyone, end of story. Of course, sometimes, there were situations, when he needed to decide, who he saved first, but that only rarely resulted in the second (third, etc.) to save person dying... If someone died under his watch, then because he had been too slow. Not, because he had decided accordingly.
A strangled scream let him jump and whirl around to the curtains, from that emerged the man, with a tightly tied up Scourge over his shoulder, placing him on the counter like a piece of meat. The hedgehog was writhing in obvious pain and trying to curl up, but the ropes were preventing most movements.
"Here you go. As it's customary, we injected him with a small dose of snake's poison to paralyze him. Here is the antidote to apply whenever you see fit.," the man explained, handing him a small vial with a clear liquid, that John took, his mind completely blank in shock.
They...poisoned him? They... poisoned him. They fucking dared to poison HIM!? At once, his hand shot out, grabbing the grinning man's throat and squeezing it, which wiped his face immediately clean of that smirk.
"What did you do to him!?," he hissed. The surroundings were now darker than ever. A hand grabbed him and pulled him back, letting him lose his grip. The man coughed, while the surroundings turned lighter again, but not completely to what Sonic considered as 'normal' by now.
"We need to leave, now.," the second Mephiles told him. John growled lightly, but agreed. Carefully, he picked up Scourge, flinching, when the male groaned silently in pain. Making sure, that he wouldn't fall out of his arms, John straightened and they went quickly to the exit, trying not to raise suspicion.
Sonic could feel John's heart drumming in his chest like a bird trying to escape. His adrenaline was probably going through the roof right now.
Upstairs, the room with the slaves was empty and sounds of the other auction, probably just beginning, were audible next to them.
"Let's take a shortcut.," the second Mephiles spoke up and a hole, big enough to fit them through, broke itself through the wall to their right, leading directly to a side alley.
Vaguely, John could see several of the poor mobians and humans fleeing from sight, for sure scared by what they had witnessed.
"I should be able to use all of my powers again outside the building. I won't be able to perform miracles, though.," the second Mephiles explained. John's glare wandered to the top corners, where he spotted more crystals, which explained, why the male wanted to leave this place.
"Stop right there!," a voice shouted and he quickly turned around to see a heavily panting Prince standing in the door frame of Liad's office. His front was dirtied with thin splatters of blood, that was for sure not his. His face was contorted in rage.
"You little shit! How dare you take my property!?," he hissed and swung his blood dripping whip, the tip aiming for Scourge, but with reflexes, that neither he, nor Sonic, knew he had, John caught the tip with one hand, balancing the hedgehog on one arm. His hand, whose palm got cut by the tip and dripped with blood, that slid down the weapon, glowed in black, the surroundings darker than ever before.
Prince, who had for sure not expected such quick reactions either, just stared with his jaw slack. John held the whip a little tighter and pulled it, ripping it out of Prince's hand and throwing it to the ground.
"Your property?," he hissed, actually making the light male flinch from the coldness in his voice. "You call him your property?"
Slowly, John closed the gap – that Prince for sure wished to be larger – between them, reminding Sonic a bit of a predator closing in on its prey.
"How about I make you MY property?," he growled with a dangerous voice, that had the mobian back off. "If I see you once more in my or his range, you will wish, that you had never been born. Did I make myself clear?," he snarled. With wide eyes, the royal nodded, trembling.
"You better.," John growled warningly and turned on his heel, marching out. Unlike all the other times, he wasn't confused at all by his behavior – and the surroundings stayed dark, not returning in the slightest to normal.
He and the Mephiles-doppelganger stepped out, with the latter closing the hole in the wall. He then turned to John. "I can transport only one of you – but not to my original, I'm afraid, that's too far.," he reported his current limits.
"Do you know, where the airport is here?," John asked, not even having to think about it for a second.
The eyes of the doppelganger flashed violet. "I do now.," he explained. "Perfect." Carefully, John placed the silently whimpering Scourge on his arms, placing the vial with the antidote on his chest. "Bring the two of you to the airport, there stands a private jet of mine. Kylie's on board, with medical equipment. Tell her, that he was poisoned and give her the antidote. I leave it to her to decide, when to take off. If he's too bad off, she shall tell the pilot to take off already, I'll find a way to come after them later." "Understood.," the male nodded and disappeared.
John let out a deep breath, the darkness finally disappearing again, but he didn't seem to mind or notice it.
Sonic saw Kylie moving, for sure wanting to stop the memory here, but he gestured for her to let it be and she complied. He had an idea of what he would see next.
Alright, what was the way to the airport again?, John asked himself thoughtfully, while walking through the crowded market place.
As he was pretty tall, even taller than most humans walking around here, he noticed the big stone construction, that looked like the lower part of a small pyramid, with the middle and top part missing, right away. It looked, as if someone had started to build a mini-pyramid and lost interest after a while and instead created the city around it. John could see several people in wide, black clothes, wearing hoods, that hid their faces completely, walk around up there.
Strange, wonder what's that about. I definitely didn't see this thing on my way here...right?, he thought, while looking around and finally approaching a coyote mobian, who apparently owned the restaurant he stood in front of, exotic scents invaded Sonic's – and therefore apparently also John's – nose the closer he came.
The coyote looked up, when he saw him approach, smiling and greeting him in Saha's language. "Er...do you speak English?," he asked carefully, figuring, that the people working here probably knew some other languages to communicate with the international customers.
"A little, sir. May I help you?," the coyote replied with a heavy accent. "Do you know, what is happening here?," John asked, pointing to the stone stage. "Oh yes, that's one of the attractions of Saha."
"So, some kind of show?," John wondered. "Indeed." "Okay..." John watched the black clothed people moving on the stage, putting wooden blocks there, that had the same distance to each other and that gave Sonic a vague idea of how exactly the slaves were going to be executed.
John on the other hand seemed still unconcerned and Sonic would have loved to shake him and to scream at him to do something – but he knew more than John did back then, so he watched further silently.
John looked at the wood pieces and narrowed his eyes. Sonic did so, too, and quickly spotted a dried red fluid coating the top and the sides of the wood.
"Er...for what are those wooden things?," he asked, feeling distrust grow inside of himself. "For the highlight of the show.," came the reply.
"Ah.," John replied, when music started to play out of speakers hanging from houses around the stage and a dozen females appeared on the stage, starting to perform a belly dance. Their movements – and their rather revealing, matching outfits – had attracted a large crowd, that forced John to stay close to the coyote mobian, unless he would use his elbows and force his way through. John rather looked over the crowd, apparently looking for a way out and to the airport.
His eyes slid back towards the stage, when the music changed to something less happy and light and he watched, how the girls hurried off the stone and people in chains were led on the stage.
Sonic recognized Veit, looking far more pale, thin and dirty, than he did now. He wore rags and the chain connecting his metal collar and held by the one leading him was completely slack, he walked like a docile pet to his death.
He also saw Tebian, who needed to be dragged by two men because of the fight he put up. He had been beaten up visibly, sporting a black eye and many bruises under his, thinner than it should be, fur.
John watched with a sinking feeling in his stomach, how they were forced to their knees in front of a wooden block each, the people doing so apparently not caring, how willingly (or in Tebian's case – unwillingly) the slaves would have obeyed an order to do so.
"W-what is happening there!?," he asked, actually grabbing the coyote's robes and shaking him. "Th-the highlight of the show, the execution of slaves.," the male stuttered.
John's eyes widened. "WHAT!?," he shouted and whipped around to see the black clothed people, that he now recognized as executioners, getting in position with a sword in hand each, for sure intending on killing the dozen slaves in one synchronous movement.
John's hands balled to fists. Dark swirls started to dance across his vision, but didn't seem to bother him. He made his way through the crowd, the people in front of him jumping to the side with startled yelps and Sonic noticed strange, black flames on the places, where John had touched them to push them out of his way.
Before he had reached the stage, the people in the front rows had already moved to the side, forming a passage, watching him with wide eyes. He walked up the stairs swiftly, startling the executioners with his sudden appearance. "Leave them alone!," he hissed dangerously and Sonic was for just a second convinced, that they were looking through the eyes of someone else. This wasn't John, was he? The John he knew would have freaked out upon seeing the dried blood of all nuances from red to black coating the stage, which hadn't been visible from the ground.
The executioners gesticulated wildly, while blubbering in their language, that turned suddenly to English, pretty much in mid-sentence. "-rupting a sacred ritual! How dare you!?," the executioner in the front raged.
John's face was pulled in half, when he smirked coldly. "'Sacred ritual'? Please. This is public slaughtering." It was strange, the English version seemed to be spoken, while John's lips formed noticeably – for his all-feeling audience – different words and over the known language, Sonic heard John talk in the same language as the others, that he hadn't been able to understand – much less speak – in the slightest just minutes ago. Just...how?
The executioner seemed angry, but was still wearing his hood, that had two small holes for the eyes, as he saw now from up close, so it was hard to say, what he felt right now. "You know nothing of Saha's traditions and values!," he hissed, again in perfect English.
"Oh, I think I do. I wish to purchase those slaves.," John replied just like before in this two-language-speech, pointing to the still kneeling slaves, who didn't look up, just staring at the dried blood.
Only Tebian fought against his kneeling position, but two of the executioners holding him down with their hands on his shoulders kept him in his position.
"Impossible! They weren't sold and one of them is a criminal, they aren't for sale, that's against the laws!," the man protested immediately. John didn't even hesitate. "What about 10 billion rings?," he offered easily. "Sir, no sum can change the fact, that it's ille-" "Ten billion rings for each slave.," John rephrased, sounding bored and actually briefly examining his nails, as if finding the right price was the only thing between him and the purchasing of the slaves.
The executioners exchanged a glare, although they technically didn't see the others' faces. "I-it's still...still illegal...," the man in the front tried to stay strong, but his resistance was waning fast. "I'm not a citizen of this city, I'm not bound by its laws. And if you're clever and leave the kingdom today, you have nothing to fear.," John shrugged lightly.
That did the trick. The man sighed and waved with his arm, causing the others to force the slaves and Tebian up, keeping the red furred seme restrained at the same time. The remaining man watched John, who pulled out a checkbook Sonic didn't know he had, counted the slaves and Tebian theatrically and then wrote 120 billion rings on the paper, ripping it out and giving it to the man.
He went to grab it, but John pulled the sheet away at the last second. "The chains, if you please.," he requested with a silky voice.
The cuffs and collars were quickly removed. In their hurry, the men forgot about the red furred seme and he took the opening immediately.
He punched the one freeing him and wanted to jump on John, but he was quick – too quick for a human, actually – to catch him by the throat and to pull him close to himself. "If you want to live, I suggest, that you keep it down a bit, until we are out of this country. Just relax and show me the way to the airport and we'll be out of here in no time.," he whispered under his breath, just for the mobian to hear.
Tebian hesitated, before he reluctantly relaxed, showing his surrender to the executioners and his agreeing to John's suggestion.
Slowly, John let him down and the seme stayed still, pretending to be tamed. Seeing the surprise of the watching men, he smirked. "You have your ways, I have mine. Let's go.," he ordered Tebian, who balled his fists, but moved, turning around, crossing the stage and descending the stairs there, the slaves following him in two rows with John taking the rear. He could see, that Veit was switching between walking next to and directly behind Tebian, apparently unsure of his limits under this new master.
John reached the other end of the stage and saw, that the crowd had parted, just like on the other side. "Pleasure doing business with you, gentlemen.," he told the executioners without turning around and flicked the check over his shoulder, grinning at the fighting noises he heard behind him, while he descended the stairs.
Saha was either not a big place, or John hadn't strayed that far away from the airport. Either way, the journey took only about five minutes, the slaves keeping step all the time, never faltering, while Tebian sometimes walked a bit slower and looked then over his shoulder, trying to measure John and his intentions. Unknown to him, John was pretty much doing the same behind his strained poker face.
The surroundings were lighter again, the dark swirls gone and John's mind back to normal, but he remembered everything, that had happened...which confused him quite a bit.
Merciful mother of Chaos – what WAS that!? Why the hell did I buy slaves and a criminal!? Am I nuts!? And WHY did I even step on this stage? What is WRONG with me!? What the hell do I do with those? I can't keep them here, can I? Please, let Kylie still be there, I need help with that...them!
Thankfully, the arrival at the airport distracted him a little. Looking around, he shepherded his entourage to a plane standing on the field, that had its door open.
Without resistance – besides Tebian's, although that was rather small – the mobians and John went in, right in a spacey cabin with several soft sofas and single seats. "Er...take a seat. I'll be right back.," he said, talking only in English now. Surprisingly enough, the slaves seemed to understand him still, at least more or less – they sat on the ground, while Tebian, as if to defy his orders, sat on a seat. Sonic noticed Veit kneeling next to him and looking up at him with worry, as if he expected a punishment for the seme.
"Okay...," John mumbled, for now satisfied with the outcome, and went through the door at the other side of the room, stepping into a makeshift hospital wing with Kylie sitting next to the only bed. A scent of antiseptic stung Sonic's nose.
On the bed was a trembling lump, buried under several blankets. Kylie looked up, when she heard the door and showed a small smile.
"Hey.," she greeted, her voice soft. At once, a red furred head popped out from behind her and Sonic recognized Happy, who had been hidden by Kylie. He looked at John, worried, before smiling, apparently content with his patient's condition.
"Hey.," John repeated, also whispering, and carefully went closer. "How is he?," he asked, looking to the lump. Being closer, he could see green, raised quills poking out, at times through a hole ripped in the fabric. Shivers went through his body without stopping. "He's fighting the poison well so far. He should be in Healing slumber, but I guess, he still knows unconsciously, that he is in Saha.," Kylie replied.
"What happened?," she asked, turning to him. "I..." Sonic could pretty much feel John's mind shut down, blocking all recent memories. "I...can't tell.," he managed to say.
Kylie looked at him and seemed to understand him, she just nodded. "So, we should take off?," John asked, slowly, changing the topic.
"As soon as possible.," Kylie agreed. "Okay... Hey, where's Mephiles?," he asked. "Well, his time was up.," Happy said, walking around Kylie and pointing to the ground between the two humans, where there was a huge dark spot on the red carpet, looking like spilled ink.
"...Oh. Er, I'll go fetch the pilot.," John stammered, but Sonic felt the small burst of sadness appearing and disappearing just as quickly. "Yeah, do that.," Kylie nodded. "Okay. There's just...a little something...," John started sheepishly, waving for her to follow him to the door he had come through, where there was a porthole in it.
Kylie followed him, looking through the window, seeing the slaves and Tebian there. Slowly, she straightened and turned to him. "What did you do?," she asked surprised. "Er..."
There, the memory ended, the surroundings fading back to the room they were in. "Well, John had no answer to that, either, that's why I asked Mephiles for advice and he made a copy of the memory of his.," Kylie explained, the orb shrinking again and Mephiles appeared wordlessly next to the woman again to collect it in.
"Just what was wrong with John? This wasn't him at all!," Sonic had to ask. "True.," Mephiles answered for Kylie, sitting in the air like in a chair, one leg over the other.
"His family tried the foolishness of creating Chaos Emeralds. The result were Chaos Emeralds out of Dark Chaos Energy. And John came in contact with it."
"And that's bad?," Sonic asked. He himself had had contact with that stuff – if you wanted to call being pierced by a fist surrounded by that energy 'contact' –, but it had been simply painful, nothing else. It had most certainly not turned him into a mean person.
"If the contact is only indirect, not immediately. However, the longer someone, who isn't used to this, is in indirect contact with it, the more of the Dark Chaos Energy stores itself in the body. On one side, it's beneficial, it heightens all natural abilities and all already learned skills, like strength, reflexes, knowledge, intelligence..." Well, that explained, how John had learned the foreign language so fast.
"The problem is its influence on the mind and character. Those, who come in too close or too much contact with the Dark Chaos Energy, turn slowly into complete assholes, before turning to monsters."
"Monsters?," Sonic repeated. "Buying those slaves had been the humane thing to do. He could have, however, also just grabbed one of the swords and slaughtered the executioners to save the slaves. He had just enough sense to choose the right way."
"Can't remember, that I had such negative feelings...," Sonic started thoughtfully. Then again, he had been fighting to stay alive, everything else had been unimportant back then.
"Be thankful to that girl, she apparently cleaned you off the Chaos Energy, before it could harm your mind.," Mephiles replied.
"You saw, what happened back then?," Sonic asked, curiously. "What happened before and after this disgusting light appeared, yes. I don't know, what this girl did, but she and you were the only ones in that light, so it's safe to say, that she had something to do with you getting rid of the energy."
Sonic nodded in thought. That didn't exactly help explaining those giant Chaos Emeralds. "And how did this strange energy start working?," he asked. From what he saw, John had started it randomly, just out of rage.
"Fear, insecurity. He was overwhelmed by the whole situation and unknowingly fed his store of Dark Chaos Energy, which took over eventually. At first, he fought it off, but then he got used to the power and gave it out constantly, which I noticed of course and removed swiftly."
"I see, thank you.," Sonic grinned, relieved, that his friend was safe. Mephiles just shrugged and disappeared, not caring about his gratitude.
"Is that...why he drinks? And runs?," Fleetway asked silently. Sonic turned to him and his eyes widened. Fleetway knelt on the ground, his fists balled and resting next to him on the ground, surrounded by a small puddle of blood each. Apparently, he had stabbed his own palms with his claws in an attempt to keep calm.
"He's afraid of this asshole. And I didn't help him.," he growled, looking, as if he wanted to beat himself up.
Kylie looked at him, before she sighed. "Fleetway, that's not what I meant. He's not angry at you for not rescuing him. The problem is, that his instincts made a fatal conclusion on that day: Lightning Class semes = dangerous. That includes you, too."
"But that wasn't me!," Fleetway exclaimed and jumped up. "Fleetway, Scourge had been dehydrated, starved, sick and drugged. Not to mention, that there was perfume confusing his nose. For all he knew, it could have been you saying those awful things to him and treating him like this."
Sonic remembered Scourge's almost-question before the auction, Say, earlier...was there... He hadn't thought much about it, but had Scourge tried to ask, if Prince had been Fleetway?
Fleetway apparently got to the same conclusion. "But I'm not him, I would NEVER do that. I mean, did he forget those ten years we've been hanging out together? I would never ever hurt him, not ever!," the distressed seme exclaimed.
"Fleetway, don't you get it? These ten years are the problem! Sonic and Shadow and Silver and Mephiles met on the Island and didn't know each other before. You, on the other hand, had a long friendship, that evolved in mere months to much more. Scourge is, as I already said, falling for you, but this incident on Saha has made him insecure. He doesn't know what to think anymore. Scourge's instincts learned to be careful and weary of your class. It's mere bad luck, that you two are of the same class. It means, that you share a couple of characteristics."
"We do?," Fleetway asked, not keen on sharing even the appearance with him. "Yes. That's why semes of the Lightning Class look the almost always the same – light yellow fur and raised quills – while other semes have more variations. It shows everyone, that nobody should mess with you, like a visible warning sign."
"My super form looks like that of a seme of the Lightning Class...," Sonic mused. "No wonder, changing your form like that is like putting on warpaint. It says 'Don't come closer, I'm stronger and more dangerous now!'. People like Eggman just don't understand that.," Kylie grinned. Sonic smirked in understanding. Well, that was true.
"But internally, we are completely different!," Fleetway argued. "Fleetway, if you were bitten by a dog, you wouldn't trust any dog afterwards, even the smaller ones or different breeds. Your instincts will warn you from getting closer to dogs. Right now, Scourge sees Prince as a seme of the Lightning Class as his enemy – and you with your for him strange behavior, too."
"Strange behavior!? I'm just worried, dammit!," he raged, repeating himself. "Fleetway, use that brain of yours. Scourge has never before experienced love. Neither the love of a parent, nor that of a sibling, other family member, or a friend. From what I understood, you kept the care for others on a very superficial level, even between him and Fiona. How should he know, what love looks like?," Kylie asked.
Fleetway frowned. He hated to admit it, but she was right, in their gang, care – let alone love – was really not a deeply running feeling. They took care of someone, who got injured, until he was able to hold himself up, or stole medicine for their illnesses and ailments, but usually only couples showed stronger affection than that towards their partners. Otherwise, you couldn't expect much from the gang – especially not loyalty. Everyone would leave another gang member behind without a question, when it came to a chase with the police, or rivaling gangs.
Sonic wasn't surprised to hear that, too. He still remembered, how Scourge had always seemed surprised and overwhelmed, when he, or Silver, had shown worry or care towards him on the Island. It seemed to be true, he didn't know, what love and care were.
"B-but... I'm...just..." Fleetway pulled his head quills, smearing them with blood. "What can I do?," he whined. "How can I show him, that I just want to love and care for him?," he asked himself desperately and even Sonic took pity in him, seeing him like that.
Maybe he could try and talk with Scourge to find out, if the feelings were truly remotely close to love? It would be a good beginning, wouldn't it be?
He frowned at his own thought process. When exactly had he forgiven Fleetway? And since when did he want to help him?
He couldn't know it, but most Alphas had no problem with considering people as their colony members in the blink of an eye, if they had a good reason to add them in the first place.
In this case, the information, that Scourge was falling for Fleetway, was all he needed to hear. The mates of colony members were usually integrated in the colony of the seme, but since Fleetway didn't belong to one – his gang didn't count – he was considered as part of Sonic's colony now.
The second a new member was added to the colony, he or she became clean of all sins, as if they had been born a second time under the Alpha's protection. Even if they wiped out a whole civilization, the Alpha and colony would never dream of abandoning the culprit, even if they needed to bear with lots of trouble to protect him, or her.
That didn't mean, that criminals could simply ask an Alpha to join his or her colony and be safe – most Alphas were very picky and didn't just accept every wannabe coming to them. Sonic belonged to those, he considered pretty much every acquaintance as a friend, but only the exclusive ones were seen as part of his colony, not, that he was aware of that.
Conscious Sonic was – unlike Instinct Sonic – still fully aware of what Fleetway had done to Scourge and even if he, with his instincts accepting him, felt the urge to help him, when he was that desperate, the feeling didn't run very deep, just like with a...rather not so close, platonic friend. Therefore, he resisted his own instincts and didn't think too much about how to help him.
Kylie looked at the distressed seme for a minute, before she sighed. Unlike Sonic, she had no instinct- and conscious-side. She only had her guts – and she always listened to those. "Alright. I'll probably regret it, but I'll help you.," she declared, already regretting every syllable leaving her lips.
Fleetway stopped the pulling of his quills and stared at her with wide eyes. "Huh?," he asked confused. "I'll help you.," Kylie repeated. "I'll try and show you, how to gain Scourge's trust."
Fleetway's jaw dropped open, before he jumped on her, hugging her tightly and almost throwing them both to the ground. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! I take all bad thoughts I had about you back!," he exclaimed.
"Good...to know...," Kylie gasped breathlessly and thankfully, Fleetway noticed that and let her go, leaving bloody hand prints on her back.
"Thank you. Really, you're the best.," Fleetway told her gratefully. "Yeah, yeah, don't exaggerate. I'm not donating my heart for Scourge, so stop kissing my butt. And just for the record – human and mobian organs aren't compatible."
She dusted the yellow hairs off her and straightened. "Now, if you want that to work, you will have to follow my lead, got it?" It wasn't a rhetorical request – semes of the Lightning Class weren't very obedient and tended to ignore even the orders of an Alpha, that all other classes saw as laws.
"Of course.," Fleetway nodded quickly. "Okay. Now some rules: first, you will stay away from Scourge."
As expected, Fleetway wanted to contradict already. "Not for ever. But Scourge needs rest, and I'm not talking about bed rest. He has lost weight and hasn't slept properly in ages, which you apparently already noticed, due to pure stress. He needs to calm his nerves and this will work far faster, when you leave him alone."
"But..." Fleetway grimaced, still worried. "I assure you, that I have someone watching him discreetly all the time, so you don't have to worry about him getting in more trouble, than he already .," Kylie soothed.
Sonic frowned. "Why? Is he constantly getting into trouble?," he asked. Kylie paused, seeming to contemplate whether she should tell them, but then went to explain, "No, that's not the reason. You see, we get a lot of threatening mail."
A quick look to the side told Sonic, that this information was older to him, than to the seme.
"Nicole is checking all of them and shows me copies of them, just in case, that those letters contain some poisonous substances."
Sonic felt a small pang of worry hearing that – Amy and Zen both had had contact with threatening mail, especially that dead hedgehog. Zen would probably know of the possible invisible threat and wash his hands, but Amy...then again, any poison had had enough time to take effect under his watch, and she had been fine...right?
"Among those letters.," Kylie continued, drawing attention to her once more, "Among those letters appears lately daily a card with fancy patterns on it, that is always addressing a 'Green Daisy'." Sonic felt the hairs on his neck raising. Green Daisy. That was the nickname, that Prince had given Scourge!
Fleetway came to the same conclusion, it seemed, judging by the hot Chaos Energy surrounding him suddenly and burning the ground he stood on. "He's here?," he hissed.
"Maybe. If he is, then he is hiding himself good. The cards are put directly in our letter box, but not even guarding it had helped – the guy just paid random children to deliver it and kept himself well disguised, so that the little ones couldn't tell, how exactly he looked like. We checked all hotels and recently rented houses, but he doesn't seem to live here. It could be, that he pays someone to deliver those cards, but is still in Saha himself. It could also be, that someone else is meant and that it doesn't have anything to do with Scourge at all, but I'm not sure, if that isn't just wishful thinking on my side."
"I want those cards.," Fleetway snarled, having calmed enough to not burn the floor anymore...for now.
"All threatening mail gets burned each evening." Seeing, that he was about to flip his lid, she added, "But you can have all of the future ones – if there are, and, if you act to my satisfaction. See it as some kind of reward."
Strangely enough, Fleetway accepted that easily. "Alright. What are the other rules?," he asked.
"You'll come every day at 3 pm to my office, not later, or earlier – or I'll ignore you for a day." Fleetway nodded vigorously. "Of course, we have to expect Scourge to come in my office, too, for the first week after his physical recovery at least. If you catch even a whiff of Scourge at my door, retreat and fetch Mali, or John, whoever you find first. I'll inform them today. They'll come to my office for an invented reason and hide your scent that way."
"That doesn't work.," the two hedgehogs told her, unintentionally with one voice, knowing, like all mobians did unconsciously, that their noses could differ scents effortlessly.
Kylie raised a brow. "Yes, it can. You can differ scents, but you will always class the scents and human scents have a higher priority, than those of mobians, as we are posing the bigger threat."
"Yeah, right.," Fleetway huffed, feeling offended. "Fleetway, this is good. It'll help us keep Scourge calm.," Kylie told him.
"Say, does Scourge know of those threatening letters?," Sonic suddenly asked, the thought just occurring him. Would he get outside and drink himself into mortal danger, if he knew?
"I get, why you ask, and no. I won't risk it. His behavior already borders to that of someone, who's suicidal. Telling him, that he might be in danger because of Prince, could result in him being extra careful, but also in being extra provocative and trying to get Prince to make his move – or to push him completely over the edge, which will force us to expect suicide attempts."
Sonic and Fleetway grimaced. Two of three possible outcomes weren't helpful at all – and neither of them could foresee, how Scourge would react. Both for the same reason, they didn't know the green furred uke well enough for even assumptions.
"Anything else?," Fleetway asked. "Yes, this will only work, if you work with me. So whatever I want from you, you need to listen to me and do as I say. That means also, that you need to do probably things, that go against your very being.," Kylie rather stressed the point again. Semes of the Lightning Class weren't exactly known for their large attention span.
"Like?," Fleetway asked, sounding slightly worried. "Like sitting still for a period of time.," Kylie shrugged.
"Aw, come on!," the male whined, as if she had requested, that he ate his vegetables. "Fleetway, if you don't cooperate, then we can forget all of that right here and now.," Kylie told him matter-of-factually.
The male looked at her with disdain, before sighing. "FINE! When do we start?," he asked, defeated. "Tomorrow, maybe the day after. It depends on how good Scourge fares throughout the night.," Kylie explained.
"W-what?," Fleetway asked, his heart beating hard. "He has still the alcohol and the drugs in his blood, there is no way for us to say, if his body can handle it alone, that's why we need to watch him closely for this night – and maybe the next, too. It all depends on him.," Kylie told him.
"B-but... back on the Island...he was fine!," Fleetway stammered, now really worried. Earlier, it had sounded, as if he was going to be alright, eventually anyway, but now, he wasn't so sure.
Kylie smiled sadly. "It may sound paradox, but Scourge treated his body far harsher, than Perringten's men did. They did just use one drug, Scourge consumed an unknown amount and mix of an unknown number of drugs with alcohol. It would have been less dangerous to let four different poisonous snakes bite him at the same time."
"But he'll be fine?," Sonic asked, feeling worried now, too. "Currently, everything looks well and he's stable, but until I know exactly, what he tortured his body with, or until his body has metabolized enough of the stuff for us all to be comfortable with, I refuse to let my guard down."
Both males nodded at that. It was kind of reassuring to know, that Kylie knew, what she was doing. Both had the feeling, that Scourge was in the best possible hands.
"Can you...keep me...updated...how he's faring?," Fleetway asked, sounding almost shy. His instincts saw Kylie already as the only connection to their (future) mate, so they suggested to keep her pleased and to treat her carefully – which was good, since Lightning-semes could treat their acquaintances far less respectfully or even remotely carefully, even if they were absolutely necessary for the welfare of their mates and/or young.
"Of course, if you-" "-do as you say, I know.," Fleetway sighed. "Good, you're learning. Now, I want you to go and power yourself out. Er...run a few laps around the city, or something like that. We need to get that energy of yours under control, so it's good, if you get used to the exertion."
"Whatever. I'll go.," the male shrugged and went to the door, but stopped close to it. "Yo, Mephy, how about you dissolve this soundproof wall?," he called towards Mephiles' direction.
Almost instantly, the same lances as before with Sonic shot out of the ground, all nearly stabbing Fleetway, but actually just gracing him, before stilling, their tips about two meters above the ground, keeping him trapped between them.
Still, Fleetway barely bat an eye at that, or at the pissed dark seme, who appeared just millimeters apart from him, his body slipping through the lances, as if he was a ghost. "That nickname is reserved for Silver only.," the male growled.
"If you say so.," the light seme replied nonchalantly. "So, letting me out?" With a sneer, Mephiles snapped his fingers and his lances as well as the wall blocking the exit disintegrated into dust.
"Thanks, Mephy.," Fleetway smirked and left the room, dodging a small ball of energy the dark seme threw after him, that hit the opposite wall and created a surprisingly deep crater from the size of a human fist in it.
Kylie scowled at the damage and cleared her throat. "Yeah, yeah, I know.," the male shrugged and he and the crater disappeared with a snap of his fingers.
"Did he just destroy something over a nickname?," Sonic asked himself, frowning. "Yeah, he did – and I don't understand it either. Fleetway was probably bored from the talk and wanted to provoke a fight."
"He said the least of us three!," Sonic argued. "True, but for a seme of the Lightning class, it was a lot. Don't worry, if you can't really get it. Semes are as complicated as they claim us women and ukes to be.," Kylie shook her head.
"Should we return?," the woman changed the topic, drawing Sonic's attention back to herself.
"In a minute. Hey, Mephiles!," Sonic called and the male appeared immediately, looking annoyed. "Really?," he asked.
"What, can't I try it for once?," Sonic smirked with fake innocence. "Fine. What do you want?," the male shrugged.
"Could you...you know?," Sonic asked, all humor gone from his voice. Unlike Kylie, who wasn't able to follow him after just four words, that didn't even form a proper sentence, Mephiles had no problem with understanding, what the Alpha wanted. "Sure.," he shrugged and snapped his fingers, transporting the three of them, leaving the room empty.
And done! I needed to split the chapter, because I hadn't the time to write the end of it and I wanted to update in December - and yeah, this is literally my last chance.
Now some bad news: I'm afraid, I won't be able to update in January. Exams will come up between the end of January and the beginning and February and I will be busy beyond compare with those. So, the next chapter will come in February at the earliest, sorry -.-".
Have a Happy New Year! (I hope, I said that right...)
